Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Tarsier Studios
Genre: Fighter
Release date: Available now

There are massive Dragon Age: Origins games that tie up your life for 40 hours or more. There are casuals such as Peggle or Zuma that are addictive enough to keep you playing just as long. And then there are those that you can pick up, enjoy for a couple of hours, then put down without forcing your spouse to send a sherpa out to bring you to the dinner table. Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic is just such a game. It’s a combination of colorful graphics, button-mashing gameplay and cheesy music and effects that won’t monopolize your free time, but will still have you coming back for more.

Fists of Plastic is a companion game to the 2005 PC-only fighter Rag Doll Kung Fu, created by artist Mark Healey, who later became part of the team that designed the PS3 gem LittleBigPlanet. Unlike the original Rag Doll, which featured a 16-level single-player campaign, Fists of Plastic is a collection of eight challenges (plus a very vital tutorial) that can have you either trading blows with enemy ninja or completing a series of skill tests. You and three friends can play all eight of the challenges together in couch-only multiplayer. The game also features full trophy support.

In the tutorial level, your teacher, Master Pang, shows you how to execute all of the basic moves you’ll need to complete all of Fists of Plastic‘s challenges. You start out in a courtyard between two buildings. Enemies materialize on the low roofs of each building and drop down to fight you. Your task is to defeat enough enemies to gain the Fists of Bronze, which unlock the next challenge. Your hand-to-hand fighting skills are enhanced by magic attacks powered by Chi energy, which builds up as you fight. Once the bronze fists have been acquired, you can choose to move on to the next level or replay the one you’ve just finished to gain the Fists of Silver and the Fists of Gold.

The eight challenges are divided up between fighting and skill-building levels. The fighting sections are the most fun. In Capture the Fish, a giant mackerel drops from the sky onto a boat dock. You must pick up the fish and deposit it in a basket on the left side of the screen while fighting an endless group of enemies who want to stop you. King of the Hill has you reaching the highest point of the map, then trying to hold that position as long as you can and posing in between fights, which increases your score and inflames your enemies. And in Cleaning Up (perhaps the most satisfying level of the game), you do battle on a multilevel mountaintop mansion against non-stop enemies; after a long day at the office, there’s a certain satisfaction to be gained by firing up this level and pitching ninjas off the side of the mountain. In contrast to the fighting levels, the skill-builders are much more low-key. You use them to fine-tune your weapon accuracy, special fighting abilities and acrobatics, once again with the object of scoring enough points to unlock the next challenge.

What’s sadly missing in Fists of Plastic is a final challenge that would require you to use everything you’ve learned to survive to the end; once you’ve acquired the bronze fists in the final level, there’s nothing left to do except go back and try for gold. The screens in the game are all fixed (no scrolling), so the action’s contained to a static layout. And the camera movement is suspect in places; there are times when the camera pulls so far back that you might have trouble picking your ninja out of the pile. Developer Tarsier’s proprietary eGen engine combines with Havok physics to create puppet-like character movement that gives the game the look of a Havok tech demo. Sound effects are entertaining but somewhat out of place (there’s an audience that applauds when you unleash some of the Chi-powered attacks or succeed in the skills challenges), and the music score is dominated by a tune that sounds like it was lifted from the credits of a badly dubbed 1970s chop-socky flick.

There should be a place in every gamer’s library for a game such as Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic. Not everyone has the kind of time to devote to giant RPGs or casual games that grab your soul and don’t let go. Fists of Plastic is perfect for those who only have a short time to get their game on. The lack of online multiplayer and a climactic final level are serious problems, as are the occasionally wonky camera and the very short playtime (I finished the tutorial and all eight challenges in the time it took my PC to complete anti-spyware and anti-virus scans). But as a pure stress-reducer, you won’t find many games that are more convenient or effective.

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